Food & Biotechnology

Development and implementation of Biocontrol system of the horsefly in Los Lagos region

Fundación Chile will develop a system to contribute to the mitigation and control of this plague due to the imminent overpopulation of horseflies during December and January in Los Lagos Region, which significantly affects the tourist activity of the area in that time of the year.

The solution is a combined strategy of mechanical and biological control, which allows to tackle the root of the problem through traps to attract the ovipositor and the subsequent generation of larvae that will be parasitized by a pre-selected specific nematode.

The first step is the identification of the geographical areas, where it would be convenient to implement traps to decrease the population of this insect, basing on studies by experts from the Universidad Austral de Chile. This study presents the places that have a greater presence of this species and, according to studies by SERNATUR, the areas that have suffered a high impact on the tourism due to the overpopulation of this species.

This project hopes to contribute to the tourism of the touristic industry of the area, to innovate with this new control method, to achieve a sustainable management of plagues and to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants.